Ring 20 Research and Support UK Named as Tai Tarian’s Chosen Charity for 2018

Tue 16 Jan 2018

Following a vote by staff, Tai Tarian has announced that Ring 20 Research and Support UK will be its chosen charity for 2018.

Established in March 2014, the charity was set up to support families, individuals and professionals who are affected by Ring Chromosome 20 Syndrome, an ultra-rare chromosome disorder. The condition affects the normal development and function of the brain and has no known cure. There are only 138 known cases of Ring20 in the world.

The charity was nominated by Tai Tarian employees, Mark Edwards and Joanne Cumberlin whose son, James, 8, has the condition.

Speaking about their experience, Mark and Joanne said:“Up until the age of four, James was a usual, happy boy. Then out of the blue he developed severe epilepsy and would have many seizures each day, lasting between 10 and 20 minutes each. He didn’t respond to any treatments and eventually, after many tests and drug trials, he was diagnosed with Ring Chromosome 20 Syndrome.

Ring 20 Research and Support UK as its chosen charity for 2018. They’ve been a valuable source of information and support to us as a family and we hope we can raise lots of money for the group throughout 2018 which will allow them to continue their valuable work.”

Allison Watson, Co-founder of for Ring 20 Research and Support UK said:“We are really thankful to Mark, Joanne and their colleagues at Tai Tarian for choosing us as their charity for 2018.

Ring 20 is an extremely rare disease and so much more research is needed to better understand it and how to treat people who suffer from the condition.

We are a small, volunteer run charity and so raising funds for research to help children like James is a huge undertaking. The money that Tai Tarian raise during the course of the year will go a long way in helping us better understand the disease whilst also allowing us to support families who are affected.”

It promises to be a busy year as staff set about raising as much money as possible for the charity. There are currently many events planned including cake sales, sponsored runs and live music evenings.

Ring 20 Research and Support UK is the latest charity to be supported by Tai Tarian. Previous chosen charities include the Bubble Foundation, Anthony Nolan Trust, Alzheimer’s Society and the Wales Air Ambulance.